A PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIAL

ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT VD

In an Editorial (October, 1962) the statement was made, "Under no conditions, or for any reason, should a homosexual set one foot inside a public health office." A later article, "The Price of Promiscuity" (November, 1962) by Editor Don Slater pointed out that the homosexual suspecting VD infection "Is faced with a dilemma which does not confront his heterosexual counterpart. The health agencies must understand that he is reluctant to incriminate himself or his sexual partners by supplying information concerning his sexual practices, for in doing so he admits to behavior which is legally contravened and could result in arrest."

Statements such as these aroused a storm of protest both from public health officials and from some readers. At their request a group of doctors met with the Editors of ONE Magazine: Bernard M. Rosenblum, MD., Chief, Division of Veneral Disease Control, Los Angeles County Health Service; Warren A. Ketterer, MD., Head of VD Section, California Department of Public Health, from Berkeley; Stanley J. Simon, MD., Chief, VD Section, Hollywood office Los Angeles City Health Service; T. J. Albert, MD., VD Section, Orange County Health Department, from Santa Ana; Robert Lugar, Investigator, Los Angeles City Health Department.

As a result of several hours of discussion, often quite heated, one of the doctors agreed to be interviewed, as a means of presenting the public official's point of view. The following is the result of Associate Editor William Lambert's interview of Dr. Ketterer, Dr. Albert also being present.

Q. Dr. Ketterer, you have stated that VD can be acquired and spread during homosexual relations. Will you explain how this takes place?

A. Venereal diseases are caught each year by millions of people in the United States. By definition, venereal diseases are spread through intimate sexual relations with an infected person. Because syphilis and gonorrhea are caused by germs that do not survive away from the body, they don't just "happen" to a person, and are not spread by water, air or food, nor

by toilet seats, drinking glasses, eating utensils, nor door knobs. Heavy lifting and straining do not cause venereal diseases. Since there is no immunity to venereal diseases, the infected person can be cured and quickly catch the same disease again if exposed to someone who has it, including the same sex-partner who may not have been treated.

Syphilis can be spread in another way by direct blood transfusion, or more commonly from the blood of an untreated pregnant mother to her